Darth Vader was *supposed* to have been the Emperor's Palpatine yet I find myself wondering what exactly Palpatine taught him? IIRC every dark side technique and lightsaber form he utilised in the original trilogy he also utilised in the prequel trilogy. Same for his space-fighting skills. In twenty odd years was he content with being a mere lapdog? Did he not want to learn anything e.g. Palpatine's transfer essence ability which is utilised in the expanded universe? The apprentice is supposed to be taught as much as the master knows as possible.

I wonder whether Lucas intended Palpatine's opinion of Vader to be unfavourable - perceiving him as weak due to his extreme injuries and he kept him solely at arm's length until he could find an alternate apprentice (Luke or Leia) where he would either personally kill Vader or have whichever of the Skywalker twins do it themselves to show their worth.

Darth Vader was *supposed* to have been the Emperor's Palpatine yet I find myself wondering what exactly Palpatine taught him? IIRC every dark side technique and lightsaber form he utilised in the original trilogy he also utilised in the prequel trilogy. Same for his space-fighting skills. In twenty odd years was he content with being a mere lapdog? Did he not want to learn anything e.g. Palpatine's transfer essence ability which is utilised in the expanded universe? The apprentice is supposed to be taught as much as the master knows as possible.

I wonder whether Lucas intended Palpatine's opinion of Vader to be unfavourable - perceiving him as weak due to his extreme injuries and he kept him solely at arm's length until he could find an alternate apprentice (Luke or Leia) where he would either personally kill Vader or have whichever of the Skywalker twins do it themselves to show their worth.

I dont actually have as much knowledge of jedi/star wars canon as you do and havent thought about it to as much of an extent but I always did think that the only winner in the battle between Luke and Vader would be the Emperor because at the finish he'd still have an uber-henchman and infact the most powerful, social darwinism fascistic-struggle motif wise, I always figured that when Vader killed the Emperor it was because he'd figured that out or a more simpler blood is thicker than water thing had asserted itself.

The idea that Vader's "disability" had some baring on it is an interesting and good twist, although Luke had a robotic hand and I figured in the original series when Obi Wan said that Vader was more machine than man that he had augmented himself or turned himself into a humanoid out of shear badness, the prequels ruined a lot of the star wars mythos as I remembered it from my own childhood.

It is a luxury to be understood - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities - Voltaire

Darth Vader was *supposed* to have been the Emperor's Palpatine yet I find myself wondering what exactly Palpatine taught him? IIRC every dark side technique and lightsaber form he utilised in the original trilogy he also utilised in the prequel trilogy. Same for his space-fighting skills. In twenty odd years was he content with being a mere lapdog? Did he not want to learn anything e.g. Palpatine's transfer essence ability which is utilised in the expanded universe? The apprentice is supposed to be taught as much as the master knows as possible.

I wonder whether Lucas intended Palpatine's opinion of Vader to be unfavourable - perceiving him as weak due to his extreme injuries and he kept him solely at arm's length until he could find an alternate apprentice (Luke or Leia) where he would either personally kill Vader or have whichever of the Skywalker twins do it themselves to show their worth.

I dont actually have as much knowledge of jedi/star wars canon as you do and havent thought about it to as much of an extent but I always did think that the only winner in the battle between Luke and Vader would be the Emperor because at the finish he'd still have an uber-henchman and infact the most powerful, social darwinism fascistic-struggle motif wise, I always figured that when Vader killed the Emperor it was because he'd figured that out or a more simpler blood is thicker than water thing had asserted itself.

The idea that Vader's "disability" had some baring on it is an interesting and good twist, although Luke had a robotic hand and I figured in the original series when Obi Wan said that Vader was more machine than man that he had augmented himself or turned himself into a humanoid out of shear badness, the prequels ruined a lot of the star wars mythos as I remembered it from my own childhood.

It is a luxury to be understood - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities - Voltaire

I heard a story this morning about illegal migrants having to make a sophie's choice style decision about letting one of their children die and another live while lost at sea trying to enter Malta, it made me think how differently these issues are being treated to the humanitarian disaster after the second world war.

It is undoubtable that the western nations these people are folking to really dont want them, the reasoning of many of the people in those nations who feel that way doesnt seem wide of the mark when within a few generations, and often less than that, the communities of migrants are producing terrorists who hate the society they are in or volunteer for the foreign wars which lead to populations in flight to begin with.

I dont have the answers and I can understand people taking flight but there's a degree to which, given my own country's history, that I think immigration can be a case of desertion, if things are tough at home, and I mean life threatening, the answer isnt always to leave.

It is a luxury to be understood - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities - Voltaire